So a new study came out from Edinburgh University research suggests sunlight increases the productivity of Nitric Oxide, which reduces blood pressure and the risk of heart attack and stroke. The study said this outweighs the risk of skin cancer. In the United Kingdom, heart disease and stroke from high blood pressure lead to about 80 times more death than that of skin cancer.

The research studied the blood pressure of 24 volunteers under UV rays and heat lamps. One session was with the group receiving the UV rays and the other was with the rays being blocked. When the UV rays weren’t blocked, the group’s blood pressure was lowered immediately, as the UV rays released nitric oxide in the body.

Dr. Richard Weller conducted the experiment.

"Our sample was just 12 or 24 people depending on which experiment you’re looking at, and a one-off dose of UV lowered their blood pressure for an hour," Dr. Weller told ScienceOmega.com. "That’s not going to be enough to stop them dying young. It shows that the mechanism exists, but it doesn’t say this is something we should be rushing out and doing now.

"The skin harbors significant stores of nitrite and nitrate,” Dr. Weller continued. “We found that sunlight has the effect of turning these back into NO which then moves from the skin into the bloodstream. In the bloodstream, NO dilates the blood vessels and thereby lowers blood pressure."